Well it all started when the "REAL pilots" didn't want to fly anything smaller than a Boeing or Douglas product. What's funny is the only Embraer product that is not an EMB-XXX is the E-Jet line (ERJ-XXX). Our socialist friends from the Great White North coined the term RJ, and now, like Kleenex, it's our scarlet letter(s). While I do find it funny that now that I fly something that looks like what "they" fly, the are very curious...until the find out it has 70-72 seats. It's fun when guys from mainline jumpseat and we start talking (I like to be nice and have fun at work...). The shock on their face when the thrust levers move like in their airplane, the MCDU's work like their plane. Even more interesting is when they find out I have more days off than they do and make about the same money.
What do I know? I work at a bottom feeder that pays me more than mainline seems to... I could fight for that good job at UAL, get 4 hard days off on reserve a month plus 6 floating days, take a pay cut for 7 years and maybe when I'm 57 upgrade, once they start hiring; OR I could stay here keep my 15-16 days a month off, fight for better work rules on our next contract cycle (begins April '07) and make the pay higher. As it stands now, I make more than a "MAINLINE" 100 seat pilot scale top out on my 70 seat scale.
The world is changing. It's not even close to settling down. Embrace it, make it worthwhile or bitch and be part of the problem.
Your choice...